The present disclosure relates to prosthetic heart valve implantation and, more particularly, to assemblies and methods for loading a self-expanding collapsible heart valve into a delivery device.
Prosthetic heart valves may be formed from biological materials such as harvested bovine valves or pericardium tissue. Such valves are typically fitted within a stent, which may be inserted into the heart at the annulus of the compromised native valve to replace the native valve. Prosthetic heart valves that are collapsible to a relatively small circumferential size can be delivered into a patient less invasively than valves that are not collapsible. For example, a collapsible valve may be delivered into a patient via a tube-like delivery apparatus such as a catheter, a trocar, a laparoscopic instrument, or the like. To perform such insertion procedure, it is often necessary to compress the stent to a reduced diameter for loading into the delivery device.
In the case of prosthetic valves formed from biological materials, the stented valve is preferably preserved in the open condition for storage. The valve may be crimped or its diameter be reduced for loading in the delivery device, in the operating arena.
Present devices and methods for collapsing a stented valve having an outer cuff may require high forces to load the collapsed valve into the delivery device due to the larger collapsed size of the valve. Additionally, the outer cuff of the valve may have a tendency to catch on an edge of the delivery device. It would therefore be beneficial to provide different devices and methods for collapsing a stented heart valve using apparatus and techniques. Such devices and methods would allow for a successful and efficient loading of the heart valve in the delivery device.